Uisce Éireann has been prosecuted for breaching conditions of its wastewater treatment licence at two plants in West Clare.
The utility was slapped with fines totalling €32,000 for multiple incidents, which occurred at Lahinch and Miltown Malbay over the last 18 months.
The cases were taken by the Environmental Protection Agency and saw Uisce Éireann firstly pleading guilty to ten incidents in which it breached the conditions of its licence at Lahinch Wastewater Treatment Plant.
The incidents included failures to notify the EPA as soon as practicable about the flooding of the Lahinch sewerage plant on three separate occasions between January and August last year.
Additionally, Uisce Éireann also pleaded guilty to exceeding the emissions limit for chemical oxygen demand, suspended solids, ammonia, phosphorous and carbonaceous biochemical oxygen in four separate wastewater discharges at Lahinch.
For these breaches, the water utility was fined €20,000 at Dublin Metropolitan District Court.
After this, another case was heard relating to breaches at Miltown Malbay, here Uisce Éireann pleaded guilty to five incidents which involved exceeding emissions limits in wastewater discharges between January and September last year.
While on the 15th of August last year, Uisce Éireann failed to provide a composite sampler of its monitoring points in Miltown.
The company was fined a further €12,000 for breaches at Miltown Malbay bringing its total payment to €32,000.
Statement from Uisce Éireann
Uisce Éireann notes that a case was heard before the District Court last month in relation to Lahinch Wastewater Treatment Plant.
Uisce Éireann entered guilty pleas under the Waste Water Discharge (Authorisation) Regulations 2007 (as amended) in relation to a number of charges and acknowledges the seriousness of the incidents. Uisce Éireann is committed to protecting public health and the environment.
We regret any concern caused locally but it will be appreciated that the current location of the plant is in an area very prone to flooding.
Uisce Éireann is investing to modernise, improve and upgrade the wastewater infrastructure in the area to ensure long-term environmental compliance and support sustainable growth and development.
We are at an early stage of delivering this essential project and recently completed the non-statutory public consultation for the Lahinch-Ennistymon Wastewater Treatment Plant. In the meantime, substantial expenditure has been allocated to the plant in relation to interim upgrade works.
